WPPI 2010 | Las Vegas Convention Part One

During the winter months many photography conventions and seminars take place.  This is mainly because winter is a slower time for wedding and portrait photographers, and it gives us a chance to get together, attend classes to better ourselves as photographers and business owners, and network…and be nerdy about gear and have a lot of fun being nerdy together…

I am a member of WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International), and every year WPPI holds an enormous convention in Las Vegas for wedding and portrait photographers from around the world.  The convention runs for about a week and is very intense!  There is also a huge trade show which features hundreds of vendors, and takes up 2 gigantic ballrooms!

This was my first year at WPPI, and I was excited to attend the Platform Classes and learn as much as possible.   I attended the conference with my friend Milena of MKG Photography.  We worked out our schedule on the plane, which in itself was exciting for me as I’ve never been to Las Vegas before, or any place that had desert lands!  Flying over I took this picture with my iPhone:

WPPI 2010 was being held at the MGM Grand Conference Center and so we stayed on-site.  Even so, it took us at least 25 minutes to walk to a class from our room every morning, not including the line-up time at Starbucks (which is very necessary if you are up at 6:30 AM in Las Vegas!)

We arrived on the Friday and attended the Business Institute, which is a full day of business-related classes.  It was valuable knowledge and I am very glad we attended that portion of the conference.  After the weekend, most photographers had arrived (14,000 in total!) and the Platform Classes began.  These classes are taught by the industry’s best and brightest.  I was particularly impressed by Australian photog Jerry Ghionis’ class on album design, during which we saw some of his early albums and that helped us realize that even the “rock star photographers” all started somewhere.  He is of course insanely talented and award-winning, and so it was very humble of him to share with us his beginnings.

Another presentation that really stuck with me was by Marcus Bell (also Australian…must be something in the water?)  The video he showed during his presentation documented an elderly couple who were having an anniversary party and watching their old home movies, hugging and crying with each other while reliving their best moments of family and each other.  It was so inspiring and made me teary-eyed, along with about 75% of the class I think!  It really drove home the point of how important photography is in our lives and how nothing can ever replace photographs of our most precious people.

In between classes, the trade show and taking power naps (a very important part of surviving WPPI in my opinion), mingling was also on the agenda.  There were several parties and get togethers, but to be honest we only made it out to a few.  We were just exhausted after being up at 6:30 AM for classes being so attentive all day.  Learning actually takes an incredible amount of energy!

Here’s a compilation photo with some snapshots from Vegas.  The top left hand corner image is from the welcome reception, where Milena and I got to meet Jerry Ghionis!  Jerry is extremely kind and laid back, and always happy to chat with anyone:

Now, while I was in Las Vegas I really wanted to do a session.  I mean, come on, Las Vegas is visually so rich and fun, I wanted to explore that.  So, I arranged a friend of a friend to model for me on the Sunday morning (which was 100% less busy than the night before on the Strip) and we went out to do a creative Trash the Dress session.  These sessions can also be called Wear It Again or Love The Dress sessions, which means it’s basically a fashion-inspired portrait session in your wedding dress.  These sessions are tons of fun and are always so unique!

My main goal was to make it from the main part of the Strip all the way up to the area with the wedding chapels.  For those of you who are familiar with Las Vegas, this is about a 5 minute cab ride from Caesar’s Palace.  As a result, Jaycie (the lovely model and bride) posed for me along the Strip at casinos like Paris, The Venetian, Caesar’s Palace and more, and then we hopped in a cab and continued up to the chapels.

My inspiration for these shots was clichéd and retro Las Vegas – almost if you had found an old photograph from someone’s wedding at the Hollywood Wedding Chapel.

A big thanks to Jaycie for being my lovely model for this session!  Coming up – Part Two from my Las Vegas trip.  I took part in a workshop organized by Victor Sizemore in a dry lakebed in Las Vegas, Nevada – stay tuned to see the results!